Images and Words
by Samuraiko
Summary: A collection based on the LJ community 1sentence challenge... portraying in images my take on SAMURAI 7, where a man and woman are torn between love and duty, and between their brightest hopes and darkest fears.
1. The Alpha Collection

_Note: These came about from a challenge on LiveJournal where I had to choose one of five tables, each with 50 words, and write one sentence for each. All of mine were, of course, for my favorite SAMURAI 7 couple – some spoilers for later in the series, other spoilers for later in the story, some of what might be, others of what might have been. And it was HARD! In the end, though, even I was surprised at what came out of it. And I enjoyed it so much I immediately went back and did it again with another table!_

_This batch is from the Alpha set of 50 words, presented here as a series of images and words from my own unique version of the world of SAMURAI 7, in which a man and woman are torn between love and duty, between the rules of society and the desires of their hearts, and between their greatest hopes and darkest fears._

* * *

**IMAGES AND WORDS**

#01 – **Comfort**  
For a moment, there is no war, no enemy, no death… there is only the warmth of his arms around her even as their ship plunges from the sky and his tears fall onto her cheek.

#02 – **Kiss**  
Even as he left Rikichi's house, she reached out to clutch the back of his robes, and as he turned, he suddenly found her mouth on his, saying goodbye with a kiss instead of the words she could not speak.

#03 – **Soft**  
His hair gently curls around her fingers as she brushes the long brown tresses back from his eyes, her touch as soft as a caress from a moth's wings.

#04 – **Pain**  
Kambei could only watch in horror as the Benigumo's blade came crashing down, sending Nasami flying backward to land in a crumpled heap on the ground, biting back a cry of agony.

#05 – **Potatoes**  
"They're called potatoes," Kambei whispered to her, grinning at the face she made as she tried them, but Nasami shook her head and pushed the plate away from herself with a muttered, "They're yams that forgot they were yams."

#06 – **Rain**  
The Nobuseri had been defeated, but as the rain fell, Kambei and Nasami knew that no amount of rainfall would ever truly wash away the scent of the battlefield.

#07 – **Chocolate**  
He stood beside Rikichi's bed, and saw how the young farmer's chocolate-brown eyes stared longingly at his wife's comb… and tried to imagine how it would feel to lose Nasami.

#08 – **Happiness**  
Together they stood atop the waterfall, arms around one another, the spring breeze on their faces, and offered silent prayers to the kami in gratitude for this single perfect moment of happiness.

#09 – **Telephone**  
As she crept through the Nobuseri ship searching for Kambei and the others, Nasami nearly jumped at a strange sound, as jarringly abrupt as a telephone's ringing, and whirled around when she realized it was an intrusion alarm… that she had just set off by mistake.

#10 – **Ears**  
"Great samurai, you're beautiful, so beautiful I'm in love," Nasami whispered in a husky murmur filled with laughter, and Kambei blushed until even his ears turned red.

#11 – **Name**  
"_Sasuraitsuru_… a name I've not heard since the Great War," Kambei said thoughtfully, his eyes resting on Nasami's white hair, "but I wonder what brings the Wandering Crane to Kougakyo?"

#12 – **Sensual**  
Together they moved in silent harmony, their blades rising and falling in unison as they moved through the ancient kata, savoring each movement, each breath, and the perfect stillness of _satori_.

#13 – **Death**  
"Your life… I've stolen it," she heard Kambei whisper to Gorobei, while Nasami's tears were lost in the rain.

#14 – **Sex**  
"You would take a ronin outcast as a lover?" he asked, staring into her dark blue eyes, but she shook her head and drew him close to whisper, "I am taking a _samurai_…"

#15 – **Touch**  
In the dying firelight, she took one of his hands in her own to trace the tattoo beneath her fingers, then she brushed her lips gently against the back of his hand.

#16 – **Weakness**  
"It's nothing," he tried to tell her as she saw the blood on his right arm, but her sharp eyes caught how his sword hand trembled from the weight of holding his katana.

#17 – **Tears**  
"I am ronin, Nasami," he hissed, ignoring her tears as he held her at arm's length, "and you are samurai… you cannot come with us any farther."

#18 – **Speed**  
Together they charged the enemy, their katanas flashing faster than the peasants could follow as wave after wave of Yakan soldiers died beneath their swords.

#19 – **Wind**  
The sandstorm howled around him as he crossed the desert toward the capital, but in his mind, the only thing he could hear was her sobbing as he had left her behind.

#20 – **Freedom**  
"At last, there is no fear in Kanna Village," he murmured to her while they watched the peasants singing in the fields, gathering the first harvest they could truly call their own.

#21 – **Life**  
"For cowards, there is no life," Nasami whispered, standing beside Kambei and tightening her grip on her katana as five Raiden approached, "but for samurai, there is no death."

#22 – **Jealousy**  
She watched Kirara approach him, saw how the younger girl's eyes sparkled as she smiled up at the samurai, and turned away before he would notice the bitterness in her gaze.

#23 – **Hands**  
"I know you better than that," Kambei said, his voice harsh, reaching out to seize her left hand, forcing her fingers to open to reveal the scar there.

#24 – **Taste**  
She quietly beside Kambei and ate her rice, but as she remembered Heihachi, the sweetness of the rice was mixed with the saltiness of her tears.

#25 – **Devotion**  
"You forget, ronin have no loyalties," Kambei said bitterly, "not to anyone… or from anyone."

#26 – **Forever**  
Kambei sat beside the fire, morosely sipping at his sake, when the words of a haiku spontaneously came to his mind – "_the ronin's stillness / a different enlightenment / forever empty_."

#27 – **Blood**  
Nasami stopped beside a fallen peasant, her eyes cold with anger, then she touched her fingers to his blood and drew it like a mask over her eyes before turning on the Nobuseri once more.

#28 – **Sickness**  
Kambei knelt beside Nasami's pallet, feeling the fever that scorched its way through her blood, and hearing every rasping breath and wondering if it would be her last.

#29 – **Melody**  
For a moment, they cast aside their responsibilities, set aside all proprieties and rules, and danced together to the music of Shichiroji's shamisen.

#30 – **Star**  
"The Weaver and the Shepherd," Nasami mused as she stared up at the sky, as Kambei lightly rubbed her shoulders, "a love set among the stars… I wonder if ours will be the same…"

#31 – **Home**  
"Once the bandits have been dealt with, fallen homes can be rebuilt," Kambei said to Manzo, but as he glanced up and saw Nasami standing near the trees, his fingers tightened on the peasant's shoulder, and he rasped, "but heed this warning – if you betray us again, I will kill you myself."

#32 – **Confusion  
**"Please, Lady Sun, I beseech you… show me that this love has your blessing," Nasami pleaded as she knelt before a small shrine, "for my heart is torn between my duty and my desire."

#33 – **Fear**  
"Courage is not about not being afraid," Kambei remarked as the preparations for the defense of Kanna continued, "it is about being afraid, and doing what must be done anyway."

#34 - **Lightning/Thunder**  
"I will return home at last," Nasami murmured, resting her head against Kambei's chest while the peasants sang in the fields, "to _Kyuden Shiden'issen_ by the sea, and with you by my side."

#35 – **Bonds**  
It has long been a tradition among certain Clans to tattoo their samurai with the _mon_ of the school, so that samurai would forever carry a symbol of their loyalty to their _sensei_.

#36 – **Market**  
The shopkeeper bowed deeply to Kambei, who smiled, nodded to the shopkeeper politely, picked up his package and left, imagining Nasami's pleasure at the small gift he carried.

#37 – **Technology**  
"Technology is all well and good," Nasami shouted, laughter in her voice as she cut down another Raiden, "but I will take old-fashioned steel any day!"

#38 – **Gift**  
Nasami's eyes were wide as she stared at the small alabaster crane that Kambei had given her, and while she had no words to thank him, the delight in her eyes was more than enough for him.

#39 – **Smile**  
Watching her as she slept was one of his favorite pastimes, seeing her without all the cares and worries burdening her, a faint smile curving her mouth as he enjoyed pleasant dreams.

#40 – **Innocence**  
"It still amazes me," Kambei mused to Shichiroji as he watched Nasami laughing with some of the children of Kanna, "how a samuraiko can still find such joy in the simplest things in life."

#41 – **Completion**  
Kambei lightly touched the kanji that had been meticulously inked into Nasami's arms just above her tattoos, and smiled, for he recognized that _KANSEI_ meant many things, one of which was 'completion.'

#42 – **Clouds**  
Nasami lifted her gaze to the skies, where the first stirrings of a storm could be seen darkening the horizon, and Kambei was chilled to see the turbulent clouds reflected in her troubled eyes.

#43 – **Sky**  
Kambei grinned at Yukino's challenge for a poem, picked up a cup of sake, and with a glance over at Nasami, recited softly, "_Evening twilight eyes / whisper to me songs of love / that are ours alone_."

#44 – **Heaven**  
Nasami blushed at the compliment, then picked up her own cup of sake, and studied Kambei over the edge of the cup before murmuring, "_No longer alone / we walk the samurai path / blessed by heaven_."

#45 – **Hell**  
"I am merely an empty shell, a hollow remnant that has lived long beyond its purpose," Kambei said bitterly to Nasami, clutching his hands, "and every day since the war has been hell for me."

#46 – **Sun**  
He searched for Nasami on the battlefield, afraid that the samuraiko had fallen, but then a loud, ringing shout to Amaterasu echoed across Kanna Village, and Kambei smiled to himself.

#47 – **Moon**  
She sat beside the river, watching the silvery patterns on the water as it glistened in the moonlight, and felt rather than heard him approach her from behind, and his gentle touch on her hair.

#48 – **Waves**  
"Like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond," Kambei sighed, taking a seat beside her, "so are the consequences of a single action, spreading and overlapping in unforeseen ways."

#49 – **Hair**  
Nasami brushed her fingers against the tsuba of her katana, through which she had woven the locks of hair she had won from Kambei during their duel.

#50 – **Supernova**  
For almost thirty years she had waited, hardly daring to dream that wishes ever came true, but as Kambei claimed her at last as his wife, Nasami closed her eyes and felt a gratitude so powerful, it was as though she held all the powers of the heavens in her heart.

* * *

_ Shiden'issen_, translated as either "the flash of lightning" or "the flash of a sword," is the name of Nasami's family holdings. 


	2. The Gamma Collection

_Note: These came about from a challenge on LiveJournal where I had to choose one of five tables, each with 50 words, and write one sentence for each. All of mine were, of course, for my favorite SAMURAI 7 couple – some spoilers for later in the series, other spoilers for later in the story, some of what might be, others of what might have been. The first batch was hard… the second was a lot harder, because I did not want to duplicate the feelings and ideas I had portrayed in the first. However, I like to think that I succeeded…_

_This batch is from the Gamma set of 50 words, presented here again as a series of images and words from my own unique version of the world of SAMURAI 7, where Kambei and Nasami struggle to survive, to save Kanna Village, and to find the love that each has sought for so long._

* * *

**IMAGES AND WORDS**

#01 – **Ring**  
"I wish I could give you more," he whispered to her, slipping the ring from his own finger and sliding it onto hers even as his hand trembled, "but it is the last of my wealth, and it is yours, as am I."

#02 – **Hero**  
"I don't need you to save me, Kambei," Nasami hissed, her eyes blazing in fury, her hand gripping her sword, "for I can live and die without your help."

#03 – **Memory**  
Together they stood hand-in-hand before four mounds, swords standing proudly as markers, lost in mutual remembrances of pain and death and glory.

#04 – **Box**  
Kambei paced angrily back and forth in his jail cell, not sure if he felt more trapped by the bars that closed him in, or by the guilt that threatened to suffocate him for leaving Nasami behind.

#05 – **Run**  
She fled through the woods, not caring who heard her or who followed her, wanting only to get away from the look she had seen in his eyes in that terrible moment she had let her guard down and let her heart speak for her.

#06 – **Hurricane**  
Rain and thunder lashed at Kanna Village on the eve of battle, but Kambei and Nasami did not move inside, for what was a storm against the onslaught they faced in the morning?

#07 – **Wings**  
Nasami tilted her head back to watch the birds soaring on the morning breeze, momentarily envying that freedom to leave the earth behind, and yet, she mused to herself, what did the birds give up to have that freedom?

#08 – **Cold**  
Desperately he kissed her, craving her warmth and vitality, not to ease any physical chill, but to drive away a deeper chill that went all the way to the soul.

#09 – **Red**  
"You're hurt," Kambei blurted out, staring at the blood on her sleeve, but all Nasami did was shrug and remark, "Kyuzo-_sama_ got past my guard."

#10 – **Drink**  
Nasami sipped at her sake and watched the dancers move around the fire with a wistful expression that did not go unnoticed by Kambei.

#11 – **Midnight**  
As they walked through Kougakyo's streets, Nasami was surprised at how late the shops stayed open, but then Kambei reminded her, "For the merchants, it is never too late to make money."

#12 – **Temptation**  
"Let me go, Nasami," he rasped, willing himself not to look back at her, not to give in to the need that ached inside of him, "before I completely forget myself."

#13 – **View**  
She leaned back against the boulder, warmed by the sun, and studied the bridge in the distance leading into Kanna, then she glanced down and saw the others approaching Wing Rock and smiled to herself.

#14 – **Music**  
Kambei hummed an old battle tune, half-remembered from the Great War, but was then startled to hear Nasami humming it as well, and she grinned at the surprised look on his face.

#15 – **Silk**  
"Are you certain?" he whispered, not daring to look away from her eyes, but all she did was smile and let the kimono fall away from her shoulders as she moved toward him.

#16 – **Cover**  
Nasami stirred restlessly in her sleep, and Kambei gently drew the blanket up over her, then he shivered as his fingertips brushed her cheek.

#17 – **Promise**  
"I cannot go back now, even if I wanted to," she cried, moving to face him when he would not turn to look at her, "because I have already given my word to her, Kambei!"

#18 – **Dream**  
"Perhaps one day… when the Empire is no longer at war, I can stop being a ronin, and just go back to being a man," Kambei whispered, letting his fingers brush away the tears on her face, "for it is a dream that I have."

#19 – **Candle**  
Swallowing hard, she gently placed a lit candle beside the swords on Kyuzo's grave and said hoarsely, "May the path before you never be shadowed again, my friend."

#20 – **Talent**  
"That target is three hundred and forty-eight paces away, Nasami," Kambei protested, but without a word, she nocked an arrow, lifted the bow to her shoulder, drew, aimed, and fired, and all he and the peasants could do was watch as the arrow slammed unerringly into the target.

#21 – **Silence**  
Neither of them spoke, for there were no words that could convey all the feelings in their hearts, so they stood, locked in silence but for the falling rain.

#22 – **Journey**  
"Don't be an idiot, Kambei, you don't even know where the capital is!" Nasami shouted, but Kambei shrugged and replied, "But you do…"

#23 – **Fire**  
Nasami lifted her face to his, her breath caressing his cheek, and murmured, "I can sense the passion burning within you, no matter how much you try to hide it… teach me to blaze, Kambei, even if, for a while, you consume me."

#24 – **Strength**  
He marveled at the warmth of her body, this fragile combination of softness and strength that he held in his arms as she moved beneath him.

#25 – **Mask**  
More than anything else in the world, she longed to tell him how she felt, but instead, she let the placid expression that all samurai wore cover her features until there was no emotion left there.

#26 – **Ice**  
Her hands were like ice, her eyes haunted and wide, her face paler than he'd ever seen it, and Kambei was horrified to think that this was all because of him.

#27 – **Fall**  
"Do not yield," Nasami shouted to the terrified farmers, "for if you yield, then Kanna Fortress falls, and by Amaterasu, I will _not_ let that happen!"

#28 – **Forgotten**  
Kambei watched Nasami and Shino sparring by the river and smiled, half-forgotten memories of his own years of samurai training coming back to him.

#29 – **Dance**  
"I fear I lack the grace to dance," Nasami said wistfully, touching both of her lame knees, but Kambei shook his head, and drew her to her feet anyway.

#30 – **Body**  
"War is much more than just raw strength and skill," Kambei reminded Katsushiro as Nasami nodded, "it is fought as much with the mind as it is with the body… as such, you must master both."

#31 – **Sacred**  
"What do you hold sacred?" he asked her, and Nasami tilted her head back to look up at the sun high in the sky above her, and then she smiled as the sunlight warmed her face.

#32 – **Farewells**  
"I will not say goodbye," she said to him softly, "for as long as we both are alive, we are never truly apart, the one ever walking at the other's side, and resting in the other's heart."

#33 – **World**  
"She is my world, everything I never knew that I wanted," Kambei whispered as Nasami lay unconscious in his arms, her body battered, and blood everywhere after her duel with Hyogo.

#34 – **Formal**  
"I welcome to Kyuden Shiden'issen, Shimada Kambei-_san_," the young woman said with barely concealed laughter, and Kambei was so stunned that Nasami burst into laughter.

#35 – **Fever**  
The samuraiko tossed and turned on her pallet, delirious and trembling from the fever that wracked her body, but Kambei never left her side, even to sleep.

#36 – **Laugh**  
"Don't you ever laugh?" Nasami asked him, but Kambei shook his head slowly and replied, "I do not think I ever learned how."

#37 – **Lies**  
"I don't care what Hyogo said, Nasami-_dono_ is innocent," Katsushiro protested, but Kambei sighed wearily and asked, "But whose word will they believe, Katsushiro – the word of six ronin and a handful of peasants, or one of the Magistrate's bodyguards?"

#38 – **Forever**  
"I will wait for you," Nasami whispered as she watched Kambei walk away, following the path from Kanna, "until the stars fall from the sky and forever ends."

#39 – **Overwhelmed**  
All at once, the pain and exhaustion and sorrow of the whole terrible day washed over at him at once, and Kambei sank to his knees in the mud, his entire body trembling, leaning into Nasami as she held him in the rain.

#40 – **Whisper**  
"I am… afraid, Shichiroji," Kambei said softly, so softly that his friend wasn't even sure he'd spoken, "afraid of what I feel when I am with her, but more afraid of what I feel when I am not with her."

#41 – **Wait**  
"Farmers are good at waiting, or so I've heard," Nasami said seriously as she looked at Rikichi, "but war is coming to Kanna Village whether you like it or not, and it does not wait for you to be ready."

#42 – **Talk**  
"There is a time for action, and a time for words," Kambei told the villagers with a grim smile after the first day of battle, "and during that time for words, there is a time for truth… and a time for deception."

#43 – **Search**  
"It's strange," Nasami mused as she and Kambei rode northeast, "when I left the Kyuden five years ago on my _musha shugyo_, I was seeking enlightenment, and instead I found love…"

#44 – **Hope**  
"There is an old saying, one that I think Nasami would be familiar with, were she here right now," Kambei told the Elder, "that 'only the dead are without hope.'"

#45 – **Eclipse**  
Nasami stood facing a Benigumo so large that it blotted out the sun behind it, but all she did was draw her sword and level it at the bandit in a clear gesture of defiance and challenge.

#46 – **Gravity**  
Even as the ship came crashing down, Kambei reached for Nasami's hand and met her eyes, then pulled her close as they waited for the end.

#47 – **Highway**  
"Come on, Kambei, you know I'm right," Nasami said with a grin, "because if only a fool would travel the main road to Kanna when that person is wanted for murder, and the Magistrate's men know that I am not a fool, doesn't it make sense that the main road is clearly the best way for me to get there?"

#48 – **Unknown**  
"There is a proverb my sensei used to quote to me," the samuraiko said thoughtfully, "about 'which foe is more dangerous – the one that you know about, or the one that you don't…'"

#49 – **Lock**  
Kambei was forced to his knees, his head and wrists placed in the stocks, but even as the locks were clamped shut, a sense of relief spread through him… for if he was here, then Nasami was not.

#50 – **Breathe**  
All at once, she found herself in Kambei's arms, and he was kissing her so hard that she could not draw a single breath.


End file.
